[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 111 (Tuesday, July 24, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H5196-H5198]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD INQUIRY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 5, 2011, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Gohmert) for 30 minutes.
Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, there's been a great deal of wailing and
gnashing of teeth, it seems lately, in response to a letter that five
of us signed to five different inspectors general, five different
departments of the U.S. Government. Despite the effort to distract,
despite the wild accusations that have come about five separate letters
that were quite factual, set out things that were footnoted, documented
as true, we were simply asking inspectors general of the different
departments if they would investigate about potential Muslim
Brotherhood effects within those departments.
I have been amazed. Out of five letters to five different
departments, each one of them different, each one of them dealing with
facts that were in each particular department, we have been met with
this frenzy from some quarters, including some of the mainstream media,
to demonize people that are just simply asking questions. Actually, we
used to have a mainstream media that would ask questions.
Also, when you look at the fact that in 1995, the defendants charged
with involvement in the 1993 first World Trade Center bombing were
tried, and as the prosecutor, the Federal prosecutor in that case, a
brilliant guy named Andrew McCarthy has set out in one of his articles,
we proved, we introduced evidence and proved beyond a reasonable doubt
that the intention of these people, these radical Islamist groups, was
to bring down this country.
[[Page H5197]]
As Andy has properly asked, since we proved beyond a reasonable doubt
to a great group of jurors in New York about the effort of these
radical Islamists, Islamic jihadists, to bring down America, what's
happened since 1995 that all of a sudden this administration says, oh,
no, forget what was proved beyond a reasonable doubt to New Yorkers in
1995 and been upheld, you can't believe that? Don't look at the factual
evidence behind the curtain, for heaven's sake; just look at what we're
telling you, and we're telling you there is no Muslim Brotherhood
involvement in America, and there's no Muslim Brotherhood effect or
influence in this administration.
But that is deeply troubling because we know from the Holy Land
Foundation trial in Dallas, that was well tried in 2008, and
convictions on over 100 different charges, and they established, they
named defendants, proved beyond a reasonable doubt about the charges of
their support for terrorism, and they also named numerous parties as
co-conspirators in support of terrorism, and the Justice Department was
involved in that, the Attorney General's Office was involved, and they
proved beyond a reasonable doubt that there were Muslim Brotherhood
groups who were supporting terrorism in America. At least they proved
beyond a reasonable doubt the defendants were involved in supporting
terrorism, and then basically--it might be deemed or called a
preponderance of the evidence--that others who were not indicted, but
were named, such as CAIR and ISNA, the Islamic Society of North
America, in that case, the evidence was produced to establish that the
Islamic Society of North America is the largest Muslim Brotherhood
front group in America.
And some of us who simply signed a letter asking questions? Look, how
about doing an investigation to see what the influence of the Muslim
Brotherhood is in this administration? Because previously, including
through the prosecution in November of 2008 of the largest terrorism
support allegations in American history, it was established the Muslim
Brotherhood is alive and well and having influence in America.
Yet, the Islamic Society of North America's President, Imam Magid,
has been a guest at the White House, and, in fact, if someone, I guess
because they regularly don't do their homework, were to check, as I
have in the past, I don't know if it's still there, there were a couple
of times I checked in the past couple of years, but if you were to
check with the White House Web site, you would find that the number two
person in the National Security Administration, the Deputy National
Security Adviser, Denis McDonough, was giving a speech to a group
called ADAMS--I'm sure John Adams appreciated the reference--but ADAMS,
the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, and there is the transcript of his
speech. I don't know if it's still up. Like I said, it's on the White
House Web site. And Denis McDonough, the number two guy, the deputy
national security adviser, thanks President Imam Magid, the president
of ISNA, the named co-conspirator for supporting terrorism, for the
wonderful prayers he gave at the Iftar celebration in the White House
the August before, Iftar being the celebration that concludes Ramadan.
So we know the President of the largest, according to evidence in the
Holy Land Foundation, the largest Muslim Brotherhood front trial, the
president gets invited to the White House to do prayers for their Iftar
celebration. And we also know Denis McDonough thanked Iman Magid for
the wonderful introduction there at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society.
So it's a little troubling not only that this influence is there, but
then when five Members of Congress raise a question, how about an
investigation to see what this influence is? Because we know minds are
changing, although the evidence has not changed that was introduced in
1995 and 2008.
Our good friend down the Hall, Senator McCain, chastised us. Yet, if
you believe quotes, and sometimes you can't, but he was quoted as
saying at the beginning of the trouble in Egypt that he was, and he
used the word, according to the article, unalterably opposed to any
support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
{time} 2130
Well, if that was the word then, the word now is altered
unalterability because it appears that he sees no problem with what's
going forward. If he does, then my apologies if he now objects to any
assistance to the Muslim Brotherhood. But it's my impression that he
didn't have a problem with this administration's help to Egypt now.
So when we see the things that have gone on--the things that have
been introduced and proven in court and the Fifth Circuit saying, no,
you cannot strike those names from the pleading because there's
sufficient evidence to establish that they were supporting terrorism,
so, no, you can't strike those named co-conspirators from the
pleadings--and somehow five Members of Congress are the bad guys for
saying let's investigate.
What influence has this group had--and I know from back in my
questioning of the Secretary of Homeland Security last October, when I
was asking if it was true that there were some members of the Muslim
Brotherhood who were part of her Countering Violent Extremism Working
Group that advises Homeland Security on how to deal with what some of
us would call ``radical Islamic jihad,'' but which Homeland Security
now calls ``violent extremism''--apparently not wanting to offend
people who are wanting to commit radical Islamic jihad on our country.
But I asked her in that hearing in October last year about that, and
she points out that actually she has another individual in charge of
the Countering Violent Extremism Working Group, so she doesn't really
know if they have Muslim Brotherhood members as a part of that.
I asked her this question: All right. Are you aware that the
president of ISNA, Imam Magid, is a member of that working group.
Correct?
Secretary Napolitano: I can't answer that that is an accurate
statement.
So she doesn't know whether the president of what's been established
in court as the largest Muslim Brotherhood front group in America is
part of her advisory group at Homeland Security.
Of course it was interesting in our hearing last week, she also
indicated that there had not been a terrorist that had been allowed
into the White House with the Egyptian recent group, when we had been
reading in the paper that there had--of course, that may not be a good
source because they were mainstream papers--but we had been reading
that there was a member of a known terrorist group that was allowed
into the White House and that he used that platform to lobby for the
release of the blind sheik who had assisted in planning the 1993 World
Trade Center bombing.
So I thought it might be helpful, Mr. Speaker, tonight to just touch
base regarding the timeline that Investors Business Daily sponsored. It
was an editorial. It was dated July 19, 2012, posted at 6:46 p.m.
eastern time. And it can be found at investors.com, Mr. Speaker. But
it's entitled, ``How Obama Engineered Mideast Radicalization.'' And
then it goes through, and after preliminary paragraphs, it just sets
out a timeline for things that have happened.
I hope my friends, who have been so quick to condemn and ridicule,
and even people who are on committees who should know about these
things and should know about the evidence in the Holy Land Foundation
trial where Muslim Brotherhood ties were established, and they should
know about the proof in 1995 at the World Trade Center first trial of
the defendants that did that. I would think they would be welcoming,
since there are many people who are not aware of what the evidence was
in those. They would welcome input from someone as well versed as the
prosecutor from the 1995 World Trade Center trial.
So this is from Investors Business Daily, an editorial. It says:
The Obama record: After angry Egyptians pelted her
motorcade with shoes chanting ``Leave!,'' Secretary of State
Clinton insisted the U.S. wasn't there to take sides. Too
late.
``I want to be clear that the United States is not in the
business, in Egypt, of choosing winners and losers, even if
we could, which of course we cannot,'' Hillary Clinton
intoned earlier this week.
Of course, the administration could, and it did, picking
and even colluding with the Muslim Brotherhood. And one of
its
[[Page H5198]]
hardliners, Mohammed Morsif, now sits in the presidential
palace, where he refused to shake unveiled Clinton's hand.
This administration favored Islamists over secularists and
helped them overthrow Hosni Mubarak, the reliable U.S. ally
who had outlawed the terrorist Brotherhood and honored the
peace pact with Israel for three decades. The Brotherhood, in
contrast, has backed Hamas and called for the destruction of
Israel.
Now the administration is dealing with the consequences of
its misguided king-making. Officials fear the new regime
could invite al Qaeda, now run by an Egyptian exile, back
into Egypt and open up a front with Israel along the Sinai.
Result: more terrorists and higher gas prices.
In fact, it was Hillary's own Department that helped train
Brotherhood leaders for the Egyptian elections. Behind the
scenes, she and the White House made a calculated decision
and took step-by-step actions to effectively sell out Israel
and U.S. interests in the Mideast to the Islamists.
The untold story of the ``Arab Spring'' is that the Obama
administration secretly helped bring Islamofascists to power.
Consider this timeline:
2009: The Brotherhood's spiritual leader--Sheik Yusuf
Qaradawi--writes an open letter to Obama arguing terrorism is
a direct response to U.S. foreign policy.
2009: Obama travels to Cairo to deliver apologetic speech
to Muslims and infuriates the Mubarak regime by inviting
banned Brotherhood leaders to attend. Obama deliberately
snubs Mubarak, who was neither present nor mentioned. He also
snubs Israel during Mideast trip.
2009: Obama appoints a Brotherhood-tied Islamist--Rashad
Hussain--as U.S. envoy to the Organization of the Islamic
Conference, which supports the Brotherhood.
The Organization of Islamic Conference, by the way, the OIC, it isn't
in the article, but it is composed of 57 states. Fifty-seven Muslim
states make up the OIC, and that's what is being referred to there.
2010: State Department lifts visa ban on Tariq Ramadan,
suspected terrorist and Egyptian-born grandson of Brotherhood
founder Hassan al-Banna.
2010: Hussein meets with Ramadan at American-sponsored
conference attended by U.S. and Brotherhood officials.
2010: Hussein meets with the Brotherhood's grand mufti in
Egypt.
2010: Obama meets one-on-one with Egypt's foreign minister,
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who later remarks on Nile TV: ``The
American President told me in confidence that he is a
Muslim.''
2010: The Brotherhood's supreme guide calls for jihad
against the U.S.
2011: Qaradawi calls for ``days of rage'' against Mubarak
and other pro-Western regimes throughout Mideast.
{time} 2140
2011: Riots erupt in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Crowds
organized by the Brotherhood demand Mubarak's ouster, storm
buildings.
2011: The White House fails to back longtime ally Mubarak,
who flees Cairo.
2011: White House sends intelligence czar, James Clapper,
to Capitol Hill to whitewash the Brotherhood's extremism.
Clapper testifies the group is moderate, ``largely secular.''
2011: Qaradawi, exiled from Egypt for 30 years, is given a
hero's welcome in Tahrir Square, where he raises the banner
of jihad.
2011: Through his State Department office, William Taylor--
Clinton's special coordinator for Middle East transitions and
a longtime associate of Brotherhood apologists--gives
Brotherhood and other Egyptian Islamists special training to
prepare for the post-Mubarak elections.
2011: The Brotherhood wins control of Egyptian Parliament,
vows to tear up Egypt's 30-year peace treaty with Israel and
reestablishes ties with Hamas, Hezbollah.
2011: Obama gives Mideast speech demanding Israel
relinquish land to Palestinians, while still refusing to
visit Israel.
And parenthetically, we know that the administration has now said if
we'll just give him another term, then the next 4 years he will go see
Israel.
Back to the article:
2011: Justice Department pulls plug on further prosecution
of U.S.-based Brotherhood front groups identified as
collaborators in conspiracy to funnel millions to Hamas.
2011: In a shocking first, the State Department formalizes
ties with Egypt's Brotherhood, letting diplomats deal
directly with Brotherhood party officials in Cairo.
April 2012: The administration quietly releases $1.5
billion in foreign aid to the new Egyptian regime.
June 2012: Morsi wins presidency amid widespread reports of
electoral fraud and voter intimidation by gun-toting
Brotherhood thugs, including blockades of entire streets to
prevent Christians from going to the polls. The Obama
administration turns a blind eye, recognizes Morsi as victor.
June 2012: In a victory speech, Morsi vows to instate
shari'ah law, turning Egypt into an Islamic theocracy, and
also promises to free jailed terrorists. He also demands
Obama free World Trade Center terrorist and Brotherhood
leader, Omar Abdel-Rahman, aka the Blind Sheik, from U.S.
prison.
June 2012: State grants visa to banned Egyptian terrorists
who joins a delegation of Brotherhood officials from Egypt.
They're all invited to the White House to meet with Obama's
deputy national security adviser, who listens to their
demands for the release of the blind sheik.
By the way, in the hearing last week, when I asked our Secretary of
Homeland Security about that incident, widely reported, even the
mainstream media was reporting it, that a member of a known terrorist
organization was given access to the White House, she indicated that it
just wasn't true, apparently, not knowing the news that was happening
just across town from her Department.
In any event, back to the article:
July 2012: Obama invites Morsi to visit the White House
this September.
The Muslim Brotherhood's sudden ascendancy in the Mideast
didn't happen organically. It was helped along by a U.S.
President sympathetic to its interests over those of Israel
and his own country.
Now, that's the Investor's Business Daily editorial from July 19 of
2012.
I was shocked to previously find out that it was not until 2009 that
our FBI sent a letter saying they were suspending their relationship,
one place it referred, I believe the word ``partner'' with CAIR, CAIR
being a named co-defendant related to Muslim Brotherhood activity and
related to support for terrorism abroad.
It referred to the convictions in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation trial
and the evidence that was introduced at the trial, but what shocked me
is that they waited till after a conviction, when the Justice
Department was the one that was gathering this evidence. They'd been
gathering it for years.
And I was amazed that they seemed surprised--or whether or not they
were surprised, they didn't do anything to sever ties with CAIR, which
seems to be, with the ACLU, the most influential in getting this
administration to purge its training documents for the people that are
supposed to protect us, of anything that might be considered offensive
to someone who was a Muslim Brotherhood member or Islamist.
Now, I've visited with Muslims abroad. A man named Massoud, whose
brother was assassinated just within 36 hours of 9/11, I consider him a
friend. He knows about sacrifice.
The State Department said they simply could not spare the security to
get me and anyone else to a meeting with our Muslim friends who have
fought with Americans, buried their loved ones like Americans have from
fighting in Afghanistan, these are our friends. And I told our State
Department, that's fine; I talked to Massoud, and he's sending a
security vehicle, and I am certainly willing to put my life in his
hands because I trust him. He's a Muslim friend.
I told them I was going, after we finished meeting with our troops.
And after we met with our troops, I was advised, we've arranged for an
American security vehicle to take you, and we have contacted Mr.
Massoud to let him know we would get you to the meeting.
We should never be afraid of Muslims, but we should be afraid of
Muslim extremists that want to take over our country and destroy our
way of life. It is critical that our intelligence, our Justice
Department, those who are supposed to be protecting us, even in the
White House, that they know the difference between our Muslim friends
and those who want to subvert the democracy in America.
I make no apologies for that. I can't. I took an oath to defend this
Constitution. I can't apologize for loving America enough that I will
recognize those who are Muslim friends and those who are not.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________